Android This Week: Enter the EVO; Samsung Does Android; Nexus One a Success

Sprint this week took the wraps off the Android-based HTC EVO, the first smartphone to include WiMAX support (or as Sprint insists on incorrectly stating, the first phone with 4G.) It includes an 8-megapixel camera capable of shooting HD video, and a second, front-facing camera whose function has not yet been clearly defined. But it is expected that developers will produce video calling capability to take advantage of both the camera and the high-speed network. The HTC EVO will be available from Sprint starting this summer.

Meanwhile, Samsung became the latest handset manufacturer to unveil an Android-based phone with the Galaxy S. A touch phone with a fast Samsung processor powering a 4-inch AMOLED display, the Galaxy S uses HSPA+ for 3G connectivity, which will come in handy for uploading HD video shot with the phone camera to online video services. Samsung has not stated when the Galaxy S will be available for purchase, nor if it will be released in the U.S.

Google has so far only sold an estimated 135,000 units of its own branded smartphone, the Nexus One — not a huge number in the hot smartphone market. Yet that sales figure should be considered a success given that Google is only selling the phone online, according to HTC (maker of the Nexus One) CEO Peter Chou. The Nexus One is a “halo phone,” Chou said this week, in that it’s bringing both Android and HTC to the mainstream consumer.